Woolworths has brought forward its deadline to ban single-use disposable plastic bags from its stores by 10 days.
The deadline has been changed from 1 July to 20 June, at which time the supermarket giant will stop offering free disposable plastic bags to shoppers in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.
However, the changes are happening even sooner in many cases, with both Woolworths and Coles stores in 16 suburbs across four states announcing they will get rid of the plastic as soon as this week.
Woolworths told Yahoo7 that 12 stores banned the bags from 4 April, while Coles said it would introduce the ban from 30 April in four stores.
The early phase-out was designed to “monitor the feedback from customers” before the full ban in June, a Woolworths spokesperson said.
"Our teams have been working hard behind the scenes to accelerate the rollout of this plan so we can start making a positive impact on the environment as quickly as possible," chief executive Brad Banducci said in a statement yesterday.
"We know this is a big change for our customers and store teams, and we need to do all we can to make the transition as seamless as possible for both."
Shoppers will instead have to bring their own bags or buy reusable bags in Woolworths and Coles stores.
Tasmania, South Australia, Canberra and the Northern Territory are already subject to state-imposed bans on single-use plastic bags.
Woolworths and Coles both joined the push to rid Australia of disposable plastic bags last July.
